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Douchebags Galore!
Steven Hackett is being ripped off by douchebaggery from 37signals, as they try to get their HEY! Calendar app approved by the App Store Review Team.
It’s a real bummer to feel like I’ve been ripped off by a much bigger company, seeing them pitch something I’ve worked hard on as a free feature in their app.
I find it fitting that douchebag DHH is promoting his actions on X, a site owned by another douchebag.
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Amazing to see our podcast, Hemispheric Views, and its Duel of the Defaults! mentioned on Connected!
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The latest feature was added today when I was inspired by something said on episode 098 but as of this moment I cannot remember what it was that was said. Regardless, I wanted to visualise the links between all the blog posts to get a sense of how the “trend” spread between people so I created the Network Graph page.
Robb has done an incredible job compiling all these Default Lists. My sincere thanks to him for doing it.
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But what sets Bridges apart from the rest of the pack is its focus on making it really easy to get links back out once you’ve saved them. It isn’t a vault for locking links away forever; it’s a funnel for storing links and then putting them to good use.
I’m looking forward to putting Bridges through its paces. This is a great analogy from Devon to describe its value.
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This shortcut provides a quick and easy way to publish a quote from a Safari webpage (or in-app Safari web view), with or without a comment, to Micro.blog. Just select the text you want to quote, hit the share button in the toolbar, and run this shortcut. You’re given the option to add a comment and review the text before publishing.
I really like this Shortcut that Jarrod Blundy has created.
Jarrod Blundy on Really Specific Stories
My friend Martin is a great interviewer on his podcast, Really Specific Stories.
And thanks to Jarrod for mentioning Hemispheric Views!
My Appearance on ‘Really Specific Stories’ - HeyDingus:
That, along with this being my very first time on the speaking side of a podcast rather than the listening side, made me quite nervous, but it paradoxically felt both exhilarating and completely comfortable to just chat with an internet friend. All those hours listening to RSS and another of Martin’s shows, the also great Hemispheric Views made it easy to jump into our conversation.
I enjoyed hearing from Jarrod just as much as I did other Internet luminaries such as John Siracusa, John Gruber and Jason Burk.
Like and subscribe today!
Reading Ross Gittins on Economics
I enjoy reading Ross Gittins' articles on economics. He is doing a great job of highlighting the many failures of the neoliberal dogma in Australia.
ROSS GITTINS: What's kept us from full employment is a bad idea that won't die:
Wages have risen in response to the higher cost of living, but have failed to rise by anything like the rise in prices. Why? Because, seemingly unnoticed by the econocrats, workers’ bargaining power against employers has declined hugely since the 1970s.
This is so key. When I was in university, the Phillips Curve was being boosted as the saviour solution. I’ve changed, and economic thinking needs to change as well.
Unions have been neutered. Individualised long-term contracts have nobbled any opportunity for people to achieve meaningful wage growth; unless you’re a CEO in which case your performance bonuses alone will see your income skyrocket year-on-year.
Our major economic problems are that trickle-down economics didn’t trickle—rather it locked in wage growth benefits to the elite—and that the value of capital has been overvalued at the expense of labour. Which benefits the elite, who are the continued proponents of neoliberalism. Wow, who would have thought?
Case Study: The Weekly Cost of an iPhone
Hemispheric Views - Blog - Case Study: The Weekly Cost of an iPhone:
During the episode recording I referenced the spreadsheet as I was describing my decision to buy an iPhone 15 Pro. I rattled off some statistics, but Martin (appropriately) suggested I write a blog post that provides the necessary detail. Fun fact: the description of number series are not great content for an audio show.
A blog post written by yours truly in support of a conversation had on Hemispheric Views Episode 094.
Really Specific Stories: John Gruber
My friend and Hemispheric Views co-host Martin Feld was able to interview John Gruber of Daring Fireball fame for his podcast project, Really Specific Stories.
It’s incredible the line-up of guests Martin has been able to assemble for this podcast series.
Let’s fireball the feed!
Dr Drang's Shell Script for Blank Calendars
A shell script for blank calendars - All this:
I wanted a script to help me print out blank monthly calendars.
Oh Dr. Drang, where have you and this script been my whole life?
The steps I have gone to to get blank calendars in the past. Now I can simply run your script.
Thank you!
Three Years of Hemispheric Views Feedback
Three Years of Hemispheric Views Feedback:
040 I am furious Andrew doesn’t use “Grand Canion” as a username everywhere because that is so fucking good
Let’s face it, I probably should use that username everywhere.
This is just one of the many things I’ve rediscovered about myself and Hemispheric Views after reading this epic blog recap by @rknightuk. I am incredibly appreciative of the work Robb invested through his committed listening project of reviewing the entire back catalogue of our podcast.
I think Hemispheric Views is a special podcast and I’m glad others think that too.
You Always Own Your Blog
My Blog, My Home - Geoff Graham:
That’s why I love my website. It’s apolitical. It can’t be bought by a billionaire (maybe). It doesn’t care when I last logged in. It doesn’t push me to gain an audience and could care less if I have a one or not. And the feed is spot-free of algorithms and sponsored content.
But it’s always ready for me to say something if I need to. It’s all signal and no noise, and gives me the peace of mind to write without abandon.
I pulled up my old (now lost) blog, twosittingducks.com, on the internet archive the other day. There were posts there from 2004. While I don’t think of myself as a blogger, I’ve run a blog site for a long time now.
Like Geoff, I love that my blog is always here for me.
Stephen Hackett on "Really Specific Stories"
My friend and Hemispheric Views co-host Martin Feld continues to bring incredible guests to his interview show, Really Specific Stories. This week he welcomes Stephen Hackett, founder of Relay.fm.
This time on Really Specific Stories, I’m joined by @ismh, who delves into the history of Relay FM and explains his shift to podcasting and running a business—all the while balancing the needs of advertisers, co-hosts, members and of course, family.
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Really Specific Stories: Stephen Hackett – 512 Pixels:
I recently sat down with Martin Feld to talk about the history of Connected and Relay FM, as well as my story as an indie content person on the web.
Congratulations to my Wife, Hannah Beazley MLA
New McGowan Cabinet Ministers elected:
Wanneroo MLA Sabine Winton and South West MLC Jackie Jarvis will be sworn in as Cabinet Ministers tomorrow, along with new Parliamentary Secretaries Jodie Hanns, Dr Jagadish (Jags) Krishnan, Meredith Hammat, Pierre Yang and Hannah Beazley.
The Premier will announce the allocation of portfolios tomorrow, with Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries to be officially sworn in by the Governor of Western Australia at a ceremony at Government House.
I’m extremely proud of the work my wife Hannah has done for the community as the Member for Victoria Park, and I know she will continue to do that while also fulfilling the role of Parliamentary Secretary with skill and diligence, irrespective of the Portfolio provided to her by the Premier.
Casey Liss on Really Specific Stories
My friend and Hemispheric Views co-host Martin Feld continues to build his other excellent podcast, Really Specific Stories. The latest episode features a guest famous to many of us in Mac-nerd circles: Casey Liss, one of the hosts of the hugely successful Accidental Tech Podcast.
Casey references his experience as a guest on the show on his own blog.
Appearance: Really Specific Stories — Liss is More:
On this episode, Martin and I walked through my path into podcasting, starting all the way — and I’m not kidding — from when I was a toddler. It was a fun discussion, and I’m honored that Martin asked me to be a part of the project.
Of course, I can’t help but mention my own appearance on Really Specific Stories, but I encourage you to binge the whole run.
Human-sized Services
My friend Adam at omg.lol is building another special surprise for his customers.
I have taken the pre-alpha version for a spin:
A Weblog · Human-sized Services:
There are now three blogging services that I admire, all of which are run by humans - not corporations. Humans making websites was what made 1.0, back in the Netscape Navigator days, great. Blink tags, under construction logos, and multi-colour Times New Roman font. It was joyous because it was the web at human level.
The Internet is healing.
We Need a New Approach to Social Platforms
The Elon-gate’d Man | Jared White:
Jared White mounts a solid argument as to where we have gone wrong with big tech celebrity, and talks about how me might be able to do better in the future.
with this maturity has to come broader awareness that Big Tech can’t simply act like 21st century echoes of the robber barons. Either the tech sector must demonstrate its ability to police itself and show good corporate governance and a willingness to let bottom-up creativity and entrepreneurship flourish in the marketplace of ideas, or we must call for increased regulatory scrutiny on all fronts.
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And for the love of all that is holy, we must rid ourselves of this absurd myth that a single person just shows up one day with a skip in their step and a spark of genius in their brain to change everything overnight. Never again should we fall for an Elizabeth Holmes. Never again should we fall for an Adam Neumann. Never again should we fall for a Sam Bankman-Fried. Never again should we fall for a Mark Zuckerberg.
Doing the same thing again, with a different company, a different founder offering a story of salvation, a different VC backer… any of that will only take us to the same place we’ve been, and has been proven to fail.
Let’s build something different. Let’s build interop.
Musk Has Destroyed His Own Mythos
Ed Zitron has published “The Fraudulent King”, a marvellous explainer on the latest happenings at Twitter, but at the same time, outlined what a petulant, unimpressive person Elon Musk is — and how the world now knows it.
There were so many great lines in this article, it was hard to know which to highlight as an extract:
…we are in the process of watching said timeline wholesale reject Elon Musk and his ideology. Musk has paid $44 billion to purchase a website that has all told him to go fuck himself.
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Under the largest spotlight in the world, Musk has proven himself to be a petty charlatan who lacks any meaningful skills necessary to run a company. While we may have been able to fool ourselves that Musk could have successfully run three or four companies at once, the truth is more likely that SpaceX and Tesla have survived his tenure as CEO rather than thrived under his leadership.
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When given absolute power and the world’s undivided attention, Elon Musk has managed to economically destroy his company, publicly (and repeatedly) humiliate himself, ostracize most of Silicon Valley’s engineering talent, and dispel any belief that he is a Tier 1 Genius Operator.
Honestly, read the entire article.
This sounds frightfully Trumpian:
In a tweet Thursday evening, Musk said: “The best people are staying, so I’m not super worried.”
Source: Hundreds of Twitter employees resign after Elon Musk’s ‘hardcore’ ultimatum - The Verge
Twitter Circling the Bowl as Employees Leave
Elon Musk walked into Twitter HQ carrying a sink; in hindsight it should have been a toilet, because Twitter is now circling the bowl.
Elon Musk eases return-to-office order - The Washington Post
One Twitter staff member said the numbers of employees seeking to leave had alarmed Twitter’s managers, who had formed “war rooms” to determine which employees should be asked to stay on.
Resignations and departures were already taking a toll on Twitter’s service, employees said. “Breakages are already happening slowly and accumulating,” one said. “If you want to export your tweets, do it now.”
Hate speech and other abuse was also likely to spike, employees said. Most of Twitter’s Trust and Safety team, consisting of up to 40 people, was expected to resign.
Is it surprising that engineers are opting to leave and take a 3-month severance package, as opposed to staying where they have to work extensive hours for a mercurial owner, without the joy of working with colleagues?
Musk really doesn’t seem to understand that employment is a two-way street. These people are not indentured servants. If the deal isn’t good, they can/should/will walk.
Last one out, please switch off the lights.
What’s the bet that in a couple of months, Twitter is employing remote-work engineers working out of India?
Twitter News: Don't Criticise the Owner (But the Owner can Criticise You)
Musk fires Twitter engineers after critical posts on Twitter and Slack:
Musk had already tweeted Monday that he had fired at least one engineer who publicly criticized him on Twitter. The latest terminations come in the wake of Musk’s decision to let go of about half of all Twitter employees in a bid to cut costs.
Some Twitter employees confirmed the layoffs on their verified accounts.
“Looks like i just got fired for s—posting too ✌️” one wrote in response to another person who said they had been let go.
It’s never smart to criticise your employer in public, although some of this criticism was published on an internal Slack. A mature manager would probably look at the recent unrest and seek to counsel their employees. Not Elon, who has shown not maturity to date and continues to exhibit none. He fired the complainers, and gloated about it publicly afterwards:
“I would like to apologize for firing these geniuses,” he (Musk) wrote on Twitter. “Their immense talent will no doubt be of great use elsewhere.”
Good to see he can criticise those individuals publicly without recourse, hey?
Own Your Content (A Reprise)
Precisely two years ago today, I wrote this, in the context of Instagram.
Blog of Drew - Own Your Content:
A personal website and domain name remains the most reliable way to avoid your content serving as feed stock for a commercial enterprise.
Today, it holds up in the context of Twitter.
The more things change…
Sorry, Crypto Bros
Molly White, reporting on her brilliant site tracking all the happenings in the crypto/NFT world.
FTX files for bankruptcy, Sam Bankman-Fried resigns:
Aaaand there it goes.
FTX announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States. Sam Bankman-Fried resigned as CEO.
I wonder how all the Diamond Hands crypto HODL bros are feeling.
There’s only one thing worse than a Ponzi scheme, and that is being the one holding the “asset” when the music stops and there is no next fool in line.
You Get a Checkmark, and You Get a Checkmark!
Update, 10 November: Now the official checkmark has been unrolled out. You couldn’t make this stuff up.
Twitter’s solution for ruining verification is another check mark - The Verge:
Twitter is rolling out another type of check mark to help distinguish accounts that users actually need to know are real. Although you can pay $7.99 per month for a blue check mark with the new version of Twitter Blue, select accounts for governments, companies, or public figures will get a gray “Official” check mark
Twitter is on the pathway to full farce. it reminds me of this clip from The Late Show:
Business Basics and Twitter Acquisitions
Can Elon Musk Make the Math Work on Owning Twitter? It’s Dicey. - The New York Times:
Last year, Twitter’s interest expense was about $50 million. With the new debt taken on in the deal, that will now balloon to about $1 billion a year. Yet the company’s operations last year generated about $630 million in cash flow to meet its financial obligations.
That means that Twitter is generating less money per year than what it owes its lenders.
In my paid employment I often take time to explain to companies who do not benefit from the largesse of venture capital that the number one priority must be to keep revenue ahead of expenses, and avoid saddling their firm with debt.
Musk has ignored these basic tenets of business because the culture of tech bros is that the rules don’t apply to them. In a falling market, however, other people’s money becomes less accessible. At some point, the music stops, and the debtors knock on the door.